... and battleships, too

• As several people noted on Twitter, the resonance of the debates online can apparently be summarized with "Big Bird," "binders," and now "bayonets." President Obama's statement that "we also have fewer horses and bayonets, because the nature of our military's changed" instantly gained traction online. That moment sparked the highest number of tweets and a parody account, and was a top leading Google search followed by Syria, Mali, and drones. Search interest for Romney spiked when the candidates discussed that voters could look up Romney's record on providing assistance to the auto companies online. He had also said that information about his budget plan was on his website. A top search related to Obama was "apology tour," while a top search related to Romney was "auto bailout."

  On Facebook, Democrats quickly posted images echoing some of Obama's high-profile lines about battleships, the foreign policy of the 1980s, the bayonets, and his claim that Romney's foreign policy is "all over the map." There's also a Cavalrymen for Romney website that links to Obama's national security agenda. The Occupy Sesame Street Facebook page had Romney either looking up "Aircraft carrier" on Wikipedia or playing Battleship on his iPad.

Changes at Change.org?

• The Huffington Post reports that according to internal documents, Change.org is planning to adjust its advertising policies so that it can work with corporations and Republican-leaning groups:

  Change.org did not plan to reach out to its base of progressive users about the change. "[W]e have no plans to proactively tell users about the new design or our new mission, vision, or advertising guidelines," reads one document.

  The press was to be kept similarly in the dark. "We are not planning proactive press outreach on the rebrand but are queuing up positive press profiles to launch around Oct. 22," reads the FAQ in the document, urging staff to keep things confidential and referring to the initial launch date, which has since been postponed.

  The current Change.org policy limits sponsored campaigns to progressive organizations. "We accept sponsored campaigns from organizations fighting for the public good and the common values we hold dear -- fairness, equality, and justice," reads the site's soon-to-be replaced policy. "We do not accept sponsored campaigns from organizations that consistently violate these values, support discriminatory policies, or seek private corporate benefit that undermines the common good."

  After the shift, Change.org's new policy will specifically allow campaigns that its liberally minded site users might find objectionable. "What about anti-abortion, pro-gun and union-busting advertising?" reads the FAQ in the leaked document.

  "We are open to organizations that represent all points of view, including those with which we personally (and strongly) disagree," reads the answer.

Around the web

• Ahead of the debate, Sarah Lai Stirland explored questions that Bob Shieffer should ask about the Internet and foreign policy. (The candidates did not talk about the role of the Internet.)

• Micah L. Sifry examined how the Obama campaign is reaching out to specific groups of Americans along narrow interests such as through Sportsmen for Obama.

• Search Engine Land highlighted online resources allowing keyword search of the debate videos.

• A web application called ReConstitution 2012 was aimed at analyzing the use of language in the debates in real-time.

• The Romney campaign has launched a Facebook application, Commit to Mitt, that encourages users to contact certain friends and vote, based on their location or support of Romney.

• Nielsen examined the audience for the presidential candidates' mobile sites and applications.

• @DaveMc99TA noted via Democratic Underground that the "Romnesia" phrase had been trending on Twitter and some online comment forums over the summer.

• The Tow Center for Digital Journalism at the Columbia Journalism School is partnering with faculty and industry experts from Columbia, Stanford and Tumblr to promote a mobile app called Dispatch, which is "designed to provide secure communication between journalists and their sources, as well as to support secure, real-time coordination and publishing for field journalists and newsroom editors." The backers of the effort are looking for volunteers to test the application on Election Day.

• The Daily Beast detailed the process for gathering data for its project tracking the Obama and Romney campaign offices.

• Members of the military have given more money to support Obama than Romney, according to Open Secrets.

• A campaign calling for insurance coverage for abortions in cases of rape and incest for servicewomen has been running online ads with the message: "I served. I was raped. I had to pay."

• The New Yorker has a long feature on the Republican lawyer from the Bush administration who has been prominently warning about the dangers of voter fraud.

• The League of Conservation Voters has been running online ads against the "Romney Ryan Big Oil Giveaway Plan."

• Buzzfeed reported on internal friction within Breitbart.com

• The Internet's Domain Name System underwent a regularly scheduled simulation of a denial of service attack on its root servers, the New York Times reported, activity that was at first mistaken for an attack.

• The FTC is reportedly considering reviewing the degree to which search engines are in compliance with 2002 guidelines on disclosing paid listings to consumers.

• Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) has highlighted the FCC's phone subsidy program as a "massive entitlement," after the Drudge Report had highlighted an "Obama Phone" video featuring a woman who appeared to have benefitted from the program and spoke about receiving a free phone.

• Activists have launched a free mobile app to help track how often residents are stopped and frisked, after a conducting a poll of resident concerns in collaboration with Occupy Red Hook volunteers.

• A local council in California has voted to recommend that 14 lifeguards fired for making a "Gangnam Style" parody video get their jobs back.

• Bloomberg News reported on Apple's efforts to promote the iPad in schools.

• A United Nations report suggests that Facebook is increasingly being used by terrorists to recruit followers, spread propaganda and plan potential attacks, Bloomberg News reported.

• The EU and the U.S. plan to negotiate a trade agreement starting in spring 2013 that would include the issue of intellectual property rights, Reuters reported.

• Der Spiegel reported on how the U.S. government and companies like Facebook and Google are lobbying against EU data privacy proposals that would amount to a "right to be forgotten."

• One out of every seven people worldwide now has a smartphone, according to a study.

• The New York Times reported on how open criticism of the country's royal family has taken hold on Twitter.

• NBC News looked at the role of social media in bolstering the political hopes of Imran Khan, a former Pakistani cricket captain.

• A Pirate Bay founder is being held in solitary confinement in Sweden, according to Torrentfreak.

• Half of Chinese people like American ideas about democracy, according to a Pew survey.

• Reuters reported on how computer literacy classes are part of efforts to turn former Islamist rebels in the Philippine region of Mindanao into administrators.

• The council of Wrexham, a large town in North Wales, is hoping to save money by replacing its laptops with iPads.